Seven-phase assembly polls in UP, single phase in 4 states

Uttar Pradesh will have assembly elections in seven phases from February 4 to 28, while Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab will have single-phase elections, the Election Commission announced on Saturday. Counting in all the five states will be held on March 4, Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi said in a press conference in New Delhi.Watch video|Election schedule

Upsetting Mayawati's plans, the Election Commission on Saturday announced a seven-phased poll in Uttar Pradesh between February 4 and 28, while assembly elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa will be held in a single-phase.

Punjab and Uttarakhand will go to polls on January 30, while it will be held on January 28 in Manipur and on March 3 in Goa.

The counting of votes in all the states will be held together on March 4.

Announcing the poll schedule in five states, chief election commissioner SY Quraishi said the Model Code of Conduct comes into immediate effect in all the five states and will also apply to the Central government.

Earlier, reports had it that the Mayawati government was planning to advance the school and college examinations to February to avoid an early poll. The seven-phased polling in Uttar Pradesh will be the longest in any state in the country so far.

The term of the assembly in Punjab, with 117 constituencies of which 34 are reserved, ends on March 14, while that of Uttarakhand, which has 70 assembly seats of which 13 are reserved for SCs and 2 for STs, ends on March 12.

The tenure of Manipur assembly (60 seats with one reserved for SCs and 19 for STs) ends on March 15, while that of Goa with 40 seats of which only one is reserved for SC, ends on June 14.

Quraishi said photo-identity cards will be mandatory for identification of voters. Elections in all the booths will be conducted through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

There will be seven separate notifications to be issued on January 10, 12, 16, 21, 25, 28 and February 2 for the seven phase polls in UP and nominations can be filed upto one week after the notification dates.

The notifications for polls in Punjab and Uttarakhand will be issued on January 5, while it will be issued on January 4 for polls in Manipur and February 6 for Goa.

Flanked by election commissioners VS Sampath and HS Brahma, Quraishi announced that the EC has set up a 24-hour call centre for redressal of complaints which can be registered either by calling at toll-free number 1950 or on the EC website.

The CEC said electoral rolls in all assembly constituencies in the five poll-bound states are being revised, with reference to January 1, 2012 as the qualifying date and the same will be published on January 2.

While Uttar Pradesh has 11.19 crore electors as per draft publication, Punjab has 1.74 crore and Uttarakhand 57.4 lakh voters. Manipur has a total of 16.77 lakh voters and Goa has 10.12 lakh electors so far.

The maximum number of 1,28,112 polling stations will be set up in Uttar Pradesh, while Punjab will have 19,724 polling stations and Uttarakhand 9,744. The north-eastern state of Manipur will have 2,325 polling stations and Goa will have a total of 1,612 stations.

Quraishi said adequate central police forces and the state armed police personnel have been made available to the Election Commission for smooth conduct of elections, though he did not specify the number of para-military forces to be deployed during polling.

The CEC said proper monitoring of polls would be carried out with appointment of general observers, election expenditure observers and micro-observers in polling stations.

The micro-observers, deployed in selected critical polling stations, will work in close coordination with general observers and will observe the proceedings at polling stations on poll days, he said.

He said EC will also ensure that misuse of black money and drugs during polls does not take place, for which the tax and narcotics surveillance machinery has been activated.

The CEC said polling parties will be formed randomly through special software and three-stage randomisation will be adopted to ensure that they do not know in advance at which polling booth they are deployed.

The Election Commission has also modified the format for filing of affidavits regarding criminal backgrounds, assets, liabilities and educational qualifications of candidates to include a summary sheet this time.

The EC has also banned the use of religious places for election campaigns for the assembly polls.

Current status of state assemblies:

Uttar Pradesh (403)The Bahujan Samaj Party won an absolute majority in the 2007 election. Chief minister - MayawatiLast elections held in 2007BSP won 206 seats out of a total of 403 seats.Samajwadi Party won 97 seats, while the BJP secured 51 seats in the 2007 assembly polls. Congress won 22 seats and others 27 seats.

Uttarakhand (70)The last assembly elections were held on 21 February 2007, when the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the largest party with 34 seats in the 70-seat legislature. BJP won 34 seats out of a total of 69 seats.Congress is the official opposition, holding 21 seats.BC Khanduri of BJP is the incumbent chief minister.

Punjab (117)The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition governs Punjab and Prakash Singh Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal is the chief minister of state.Last elections held in 2007BJP(19) and Shiromani Akali Dal(48) coalition won 68 seats out of a total of 117 seats.Cong - 44Independents - 5

Goa (40)Last election held in 200740 assembly seatsCongress won 16BJP won 14Save Goa Front (SGF) with two MLAs -- Alemao and Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco -- merged with the Congress and increased its strength from 16 to 18.Digambar Kamat of Congress is the incumbent chief minister.

Manipur (60)Okram Ibobi Singh of Congress is the chief minister.Last elections held in 2007Congress won 30 seats out of a total of 60.